1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to the construction of a board to board connector and, more particularly, to a shield and locking type board to board connector, which includes a shield member having a locking member stop part, and can avoid a generation of EMI (electromagnetic interference) that may be caused during an operation of the boards and can prevent undesired disassembly of a female connector unit and a male connector unit of the board to board connector after assembling the connector units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a board to board (BtoB) connector is used to connect circuit boards that are printed with a variety of circuits to each other. As shown in FIG. 1, the board to board connector includes a male connector unit 10 and a female connector unit 20, in which the male connector unit 10 and the female connector unit 20 can be assembled with each other by inserting the male connector unit 10 into the female connector unit 20.
Once the male connector unit 10 and the female connector unit 20 are assembled with each other, the two connector units 10 and 20 should be maintained in the assembled state. However, after being assembled, the two connector units 10 and 20 may be undesirably disassembled from each other by an external force. To prevent the undesired disassembly of the two connector units 10 and 20, snap protrusions may be formed on respective terminals 12 and 14 of the two connector units 10 and 20 such that the protrusions face and can snap to each other, as shown in FIG. 1. When the protrusions elastically snap to each other after passing over each other, a locking force is formed in the assembled connector units 10 and 20.
However, the terminals 12 and 14 are made of a metal and have metallic elasticity, so, even when assembling the two connector units 10 and 20 with each other as described above, the terminals may be elastically deformed by an external force exceeding a predetermined level, so the terminals may move in directions in which the terminals gradually recede from each other. In the above case, even when the connector is slightly impacted or dropped, the male and female connector units may be easily disassembled from each other. Further, during a process of assembling the male and female connector units, it is not easy to know when assembly of the connector units is complete by vibrations, noise, or a so-called “click” when the units are “snapped” into place.
In an effort to solve the problems experienced in the conventional technology, the sizes and shapes of the snap protrusions may be somewhat exceedingly changed such that the change in the sizes and shapes of the protrusions can induce firm snapping of the protrusions and can generate a snap shock or snap noise. However, the change in the sizes and shapes of the protrusions is problematic in that the protrusions may not easily snap to each other. Further, when the connector units are assembled or disassembled, the snap protrusions having exceedingly changed sizes and shapes may be undesirably deformed or broken. Accordingly, when disassembling the male and female connectors so as to repair a device mounted on a circuit board, the connector units may be broken or devices soldered to boards, such as PCBs, may be undesirably separated from the boards.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.